Only a Kiss - Revamp
by DrTwit
Summary: When you're socially awkward and a boy gets your heart racing, you assume it's a heart attack and the boy might be killing you. But after that initial panic, you'll ask your relatives about it. Now, they might tease you, they might be a bit shocked, but in the end, they'll assure you that they'll take care of it, in their own way. Then the actual heart attack kicks in.


**Some of you might recognize the title or story here, that's because it was one I long ago posted on an old account. Remembering this story, I decided to fix it up a little and repost it here, mostly as a bit of an example so people could look and see the difference between my old writing style and how I've hopefully improved.**

* * *

Ruby was confused. Sat alone in her bed with parted lips, her legs dangling off the side as she stared into space in deep thought. Her brain struggled to make sense of the event that currently baffled her. Surges of emotions seemed to grow in the pit of her stomach like a balloon, starting to slowly lift her up into the air and into the clouds. Her fingers came up to lightly poke her bottom lip, a ghost of warmth still tugged at it leaving her a bit giddy. The memory flashed through her mind, the image only there for a split second with only the feeling remaining. A hot breath over her nose, her voice deciding to disappear, a wave of uncertainty overtaking her. Then… She couldn't breathe, her eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets. But she didn't mind for some reason, she just… Let it happen.

The young Huntress-in-training shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself after she noticed her own shivering form. "What's gotten into me…?" She sighed before flinging her upper body back down on her bed. It was only a kiss!

She knew what kisses were and what they usually meant, she remembered witnessing her parents share kisses a few times, but she knew this couldn't be the same thing. When they kissed, they shared a look of utter joy to be in each other's arms, they would immediately go in for another one. They knew what they wanted, what they felt, why they locked lips. But for Ruby it wasn't anything like that. Sure, it had its moments of joy for some unexplained reason, but it mostly induced confusion and uncertainty. Most of all, it pulled out a little fear.

Yang had kissed many people, most of which Ruby had never met, but this wasn't like that either. Ruby always felt that Yang kissed to simply prove a point, to prove that she was good enough to claim the lips of another any time she wished, though sometimes she seemed to simply use it as a distraction. Ruby once witnessed her sister pull someone into a kiss, only to jam her knee into the happy sacks (A term Yang had no problem with Ruby learning). Yang wasn't somebody who thought much of kisses.

Ruby let out another sigh as her brain started to groan in pain, a cloud over her mind. Only one thing was clear in her mind, something that actually made her smile slightly, even if she didn't understand it. Through all the confusion, uncertainty and fear… She enjoyed it.

* * *

Jaune was confused. Sat alone on Beacon's roof with closed eyes, his legs dangling off the edge. His hands clamped together and his breathing shallow, his mind receding into deep thought. He was only accompanied by the soft rhythm of his beating heart filling his ear, his tongue felt dry and rough as he dragged it across his upper lip.

His hands came up to run his fingers through his hair with a pitiful groan scratching against his throat, his teeth gritted in annoyance. He didn't enjoy being confused, it just added to the list of his own aspects that made him feel less of a worthy person. Especially when the subject he was confused about was one that he should have had no problem with, his father had made sure to feed all that knowledge into him, but still his mind was bogged down with clouds.

The image was still fresh in his mind. She was on her back, leaning against the wall. Her cheeks stained crimson, cooking flower littering her nose. Both's breath hitched as he felt gravity pull him down. Those silver eyes were wide, innocent, and curious. His father always panted it as a special moment, where choirs would sing in his head and everything in the world would be bright. His heart would soar to the heavens as he looked into her eyes. All things considered, it was noting like that at all.

Jaune felt guilt at that moment, he was unsure of the motives behind his actions, he was caught off guard. When his lips mashed against hers, there was no singing, no sudden fireworks or spark. It just felt right, he supposed. It wasn't the greatest moment of his life, but he definitely didn't want to pull away. It was only a kiss!

He thought back to when he had shared a kiss with Pyrrha (Who had claimed the incident to be an accident, a claim he was a little suspicious of), there were similarities between both incidents, but the kiss was still different. With Pyrrha, it was good. But different. With Pyrrha he just felt anxiousness that was soon replaced by a wave of lust. That was all, lust. He liked the kiss because Pyrrha wasn't exactly the most unattractive person to share a kiss with and she was definitely experienced, he physically liked it.

But with Ruby, while he wouldn't say he didn't find her attractive, she wasn't Pyrrha. Yet when their lips collided, it felt good, it felt right. It gave him relief. As if this was something he'd been holding back for a long time. He knew he wasn't simply physically attracted to Ruby, it was something more. It was just like how he interacted with her, with any other girl he would flirt, he would project false confidence, he would put on a façade to try and not anger them. But with Ruby, he never flirted. Not once. It wasn't because he saw her more as a friend, he saw Pyrrha as a friend and still kept up the same false confidence.

The cloud cleared away in his mind, he wasn't experienced in romance no matter how much knowledge of the subject his father passed down to him (Weiss had made THAT clear), but he managed to understand, at least a little bit. It was only a kiss. His fingers now pressed against his lip, a smile breaking through. But it was a kiss from Ruby Rose.

* * *

Ruby was still confused. Stuffing cookie after cookie into her mouth, much to the disgust of her partner. The fact that Weiss was sitting beside her in the splash zone of the cookie gorging spoke volumes of her loyalty to her team leader. The small treats of doughy goodness were not only delicious, they also helped her think… Well, that's what she went with anyway. Thoughts swirled through her mind, still set on lifting that veil of confusion. _Jaune kissed me. I liked the kiss. But it wasn't like other's kisses… These cookies have a semblance of good taste! I love_ th _\- Arg! Stay focused Rub- Cookies, so goo- Jaune. Kiss. Jaune. Kiss. STAY FOCUSED!_

"Sis, I know your relationship with cookies is one of passion and all. But you're gonna choke if you keep eating like that" Yang's soft teasing voice came from across the table, out of range, a spoon firmly plunged in between her lips. "Your addiction is gonna land you in a hospital bed one of these days"

"Addiction? I can quit when I want!" The young girl protested with a mouthful of cookies muffling her speech, Weiss letting out a disgusted sneer beside her.

"Seriously, Ruby. Were you raised in a barn!? Close your mouth and swallow!" The Heiress regretfully slapped her hand over Ruby' mouth, forcing it to shut and shoving the cookies down Ruby's throat. Unfortunately for Weiss, this didn't stop some of the cookie' remains staining her fingers, causing the girl to silently scream, absolutely disgusted and terrified. "EWEWEWEWEWEWWEWEWEWEW. TOWEL. PAPER. ANYTHING! I NEED SOMETHING NOW!"

Blake rolled her eyes and pointed toward Weiss's breast pocket "Don't you have your own?" To which Weiss quickly dipped her 'untainted' hand into her pocket to pull out a handkerchief, furiously scrubbing her hands and reminding herself that she'll need so much soap later. As the more observant of the group, Blake looked to Ruby, her head tilted "Is something wrong, Ruby?"

The girl in question froze for a moment, thinking about her reply carefully, before a metaphorical light bulb enveloped her brain in light from above. "Oh yeah, Yang, I need to talk to you! It's important!"

Yang dropped her utensils and stopped eating, nodding at Ruby "I'm all ears"

"So... Have you ever done something that felt good, but you don't know if it was really a good thing? And you're confused about what you should feel about it and what you should do?" Immediately she received strange looks from all three occupants of the table.

"Ruby…" Weiss poked Ruby's side "…Are you taking drugs?"

"Wha- NO! That's not what I mean!"

"Really? How many fingers am I holding up? Does Blake look like a cookie!?" Weiss questioned wildly, jumping atop her chair to point down at Ruby with an accusatory finger outstretched.

"You're holding one and Blake looks as quiet and grumpy as she usually does when she doesn't get her morning fish" The fanus looked away from the food on her plate that she claimed to be 'fake fish' to frown at Ruby.

"Hey!" Blake cried, crossing her arms and silently growling. Before asking "Is someone pressuring you into something?"

"No!"

"Guys!" Yang slammed her fist on the table, managing to quiet the trio as she gave them a serious look. "This is obviously important for Ruby, so let's hear her out instead of guessing" The blonde brawler made her way around the table to stand next to Ruby, crouch down beside her. "If you want, you don't have to say it aloud"

Ruby blinked for a moment before nodding at Yang, giving her sister a small smile before leaning over to her, positioning her lips over Yang's ears to whisper. Weiss sat a bit away from the two, but could not understand a word being exchanged, though judging by the look on Blake's face the faunus's ears were able to pick up the whispers. Being the only one not able to hear her leader's qualms did not sit well with Weiss.

Blake had an expression of surprise mixed in with curiosity, while Yang looked close to exploding with laughter at whatever the subject was. Yang couldn't keep it in "Seriously!? He did that? Gotta admit, he's more gutsy than I thought... Or dumb... Or both!"

"Yang!"

"Don't worry, Ruby. There's nothing to worry about, it's a simple question of what you want. If you could, would you change what happened?"

The smaller huntress gave Yang a skeptical look, her confusion taking hold again as she thought over the source of her uncertainty. Though through the confusion, she was able to form the answer of ''Well… No?"

"Then, feel good. Relish in the memory or something"

"But-... I'm so confused, I don't even know why or what I did… I wasn't even thinking, I-"

Yang pulled her sister into a hug, tutting her with a smile. "Ruby. Sometimes we just do things because that's what our feelings tell us to do. We can't understand them, we can't question them. It's a natural part of who we are. The thing you should be asking isn't 'Should I have done that?' it should be 'What can I do about that?'. Do you want to forget about it?"

"No… But, it's not like… I just don't know. Maybe I should just forg-"

"Nope!" Yang put a finger to Ruby's lips, the smaller girl frowning at her sister's use of 'Nope!'. _That's MY motivational words! I mean, I only used them three times, but THEY'RE MINE! I got copywrite and everything!_ "Now, sit back and let Momma Bear Yang handle this!" With that Yang got up from her seat and left the room through the small groups of students.

"Did she really just call herself 'Momma Bear'?" Weiss's question came between a sigh and a shake of her head, finally throwing away the handkerchief.

Blake sighed and finally placed the 'fake fish' on her fork with a disgusted look, poking the 'food' carefully. "I'm more surprised she got close to giving Ruby some actual wisdom"

* * *

Jaune was surprised. Of all the things he expected to happen today, he did not expect Yang to suddenly drag him up to the roofs to have a 'chat'. Really, he suspected to speak with Yang in a dark place with no witnesses and a good body hiding spot. He might have been overreacting, but with what he's heard about the resulting fury when a strand of her hair was lost and what Ruby could misinterpret about that kiss, he wasn't taking any chances.

"Hey, Yang. What are you doing up h-"

"So, you made out with my sister" Yang stated bluntly with a mocking grin, walking ahead of Jaune to the other side of the roof. "Congratulations?"

The knight immediately followed after her while letting out a scoff. "We didn't make out! It was one kiss... Twenty seconds, no tongue contact" He briefly noted to hit himself later for caring more about setting things straight then keeping his distance.

"Right." The blonde brawler was unconvinced, still treating Jaune with a small smug smirk as she reached the edge of the roof, leaning on the railing. "Don't look so nervous, she wasn't disappointed!"

"That is not what I'm nervous about!"

"The teachers don't know you were PDA-ing"

"It's not that either!"

Jaune was extremely surprised that Yang couldn't understand why he'd be nervous around her after smooching her sister. "…Are you already with someone?"

Jaune facepalmed at this, rubbing his eyelids as he replied. "Believe me, if I was, it would be obvious" He sat on the railing with a sigh.

She clapped her hand on his shoulder "You know, it's okay if you just don't like her in that way. I don't think it'll hurt too much if you let her down ea-"

"No, no, no! It's not that! Of course, I like her… I think" He felt more frustrated now, just seeing Yang look at him with that smug look still on her face. "You are acting way too calm about this!"

"Just because my sister found some romance doesn't mean I'm going to start squeeing"

He pointed a finger accusingly at her "Shouldn't you be angry!?"

"Why would I be?" She gave him an innocent blink that convinced him that she was screwing around with him, though she suddenly gave a dangerous glare "It was all consensual, right!?"

The knight immediately threw his arms up in front of him, cowering behind his flesh shield (As his ACTUAL shield sat in his dorm) he screamed out ''Completely consensual, I promise! Please don't kill me!" He waited for a few moments, expecting a blow to his fragile body though was surprised when he heard Yang let out a howling laugh. Peaking out from behind his shield of skin, Jaune saw the blond Brawler struggling to contain her laughter within her.

"I was just joking! Seriously, just because I'm her big sister doesn't mean I'll treat any boy looking at her in a remotely romantic way like a rapist" Her laugh threatened to break his ears, the same going for his shoulder when her hand came around to give it a 'good-natured' slap. "I'm not going to start a witch hunt for your genitals. It's good to see Ruby crushing on someone, even if she doesn't understand it. As her Big Sister, I'll always be there to support her. That applies to her love life too"

"Didn't you abandon her for your friends on the first day here?"

He regretted asking when Yang's face fell to one of guilt at the memory "I thought that it would help her make friends. Like when you throw someone into a swimming pool and they learn under desperation, worked for me. I never thought it would end up with Ruby... Exploding"

"Sorry! I... I shouldn't have said that!"

"It's okay" She gave him a genuine smile "Though how did you know about me leaving her there?"

"She told me..." There was a cough from him due to the rather awkward air from the sentence. "We talk a lot about our less then stellar moments in our own time" Silence fell between them while both seemed to delve deep into thought before Jaune decided to continue the conversation with a quiet question that made Yang's smile grow. "So, what did Ruby say about the kiss?"

Yang chuckled with a smirk that made Jaune think she was enjoying this way too much "WELL! She definitely enjoyed it. Apparently, you have soft lips and know how to use 'em. Something which I never thought would be said about you. And she really enjoyed talking about the thing you did with your hands-"

"Really!?- I mean, not the details I wanted!"

"So... What are you gonna do?"

"Huh?"

She took a hold of both of Jaune's shoulders, a firm grip that kept Jaune from moving away, locking him with an encouraging smile. "What are you gonna do? Ruby's down in the cafeteria right now wondering what the hell she's feeling, she's confused and needs guidance that I can't give. If you like her, and there's no denying you do, you can't really just hide it and hope time sorts it out. You gotta go down there and tell her before she decides to just forget it all"

"You want me to act now!?"

Now, what had that self-help book said once? "Yes. It's now or possibly never. Tomorrow, we could be dead. Tomorrow, Ruby could move for some reason. Tomorrow, she could take an interest in Cardin. Tomorrow, we could all turn into asexual clowns! Fact is, tomorrow is just around the corner, so you better go forward before the next day pushes you back!" Her grip on his shoulder's loosened as she stepped back, pointing over to the stairs leading back down into Beacon.

"You're right... YOU'RE RIGHT! I liked that kiss... I like Ruby Rose. I like Ruby Rose..." He started to grow in confidence the more he chanted it, a clear image of the kiss popping into his mind, somehow now more clear and forced a smile to his lips. Pushing past the blonde brawler he made his way towards the stairs, getting to the first step down before stopping, turning his head to meet Yang's gaze. "Yang?"

"Huh?"

"Thank you"

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember it the next time I need someone to deal with Ruby's sugar highs!"

* * *

Ruby was in desperate need of more cookies right now, Weiss was angry at being completely in the dark on this matter, Blake was giving her strange looks, and to top it all off her troublesome sister has disappeared to gods knows where to 'help. 'Yang' and 'help' in the same sentence was enough to break one's back under the pressure of stress, but she had surpassed her re-fill limit for lunch, so she was running out of ways to eat her stress away. She was close to visibly shaking from the nerves that broke when she thought of what Yang thought counted as 'helping', not that she didn't appreciate what Yang does for her, but when this was the same sister that thought yelling about how 'cool' Ruby was in Signal would gain her more friends... Doubt wasn't unreasonable.

When she spotted Jaune stepping through the double doors and into the cafeteria those doubts only increased, the look of regret and determination on his face only served to make Ruby's body freeze up. _Yang! What did you do!? Wait, don't panic, Rubes...Maybe he didn't talk to Yang-_ The brawler appeared beside Jaune, pushing him forward slightly. _Well...There's a chance that they weren't talking about m-_ His gaze swept the room, only stopping when it reached Ruby. _Well, at least I have Weiss and Blake to-_ The two remaining teammates had left the table while Ruby was busy arguing with her self. "OH, COMMON!".

It was now or never, Jaune was walking directly towards her with his eyes locked on her sitting form and she knew that it was extremely unlikely that Jaune wanted to talk to her about class. _This isn't right! I need time, I'm not ready. I'm still confused, I still don't know if I really want him that way._ He was about halfway to her by now and only picking up speed with confident strides as she continued to stutter to her own thoughts. _Gosh, if only I could go back and do it again, that would clear it up..._ It was then a realization dawned on her.

Jaune had been mulling over what to say in his head all through the walk (Though his nerves made it feel more like a crawl), his eyes never leaving the cloaked figure who seemed rather troubled from where she sat. He first thought of attempting to use his 'charms' on her, but he threw away that idea with slight anger. This wasn't a time for flirting, this was a time to be honest. Ruby deserves honesty.

He stopped just behind her, back straight and hands together as he attempted (and failed) to put on a calm face to speak. He felt ready and confident when he tapped her shoulder. "Ruby, we need to talk" No shaking, no mispronunciation and so far no seat. He could do this "I have something really important to tell y-"

Then he was cut off.

Jaune Arc was confused, a repetitive feeling that had become a rather annoying occurrence, a feeling that irritated him to no end. But, right now, he simply went with it. For when he tempted to speak, the young girl in question had simply stood up from her seat, blushing like mad before grabbing him by his collar and pulling his face towards her own; their lips met.

It felt similar to before, but also better than before. There was less of the awkwardness from before and the uncertainty had certainly disappeared, her lips were rough, but held a sweetness to them (Remnants of her cookie massacre was also left on her lips). Ruby had opted to slam her eyes shut in this endeavor, her head throbbing slightly after accidentally bumping her head into his when 'assaulting' him. Jaune had his eyes wide open, allowing him a full view of her face right up close, making him want to smile at just how cute she looked with that scrunched up expression. Hell, with how much the kiss made his mind go crazy, he swore he could just hear those fireworks his father talked about, but the music was missing. Music would just ruin it.

When the two pulled apart (A random passerby yelling at them to get a god damn room) Ruby was breathing quickly from the lack of air the two shared, while Jaune simply stood with his breath held in, staring at Ruby, waiting for a reaction. She needed a moment to steady herself, fully aware of Jaune's gaze on her. That was... That was... Her mind was clear now, for the most part, repeating the kiss had managed to make her feel better and understand her feelings more. With no hesitation her hands shot out to grasp Jaune's, pulling him back to her as she looked up at him with a wide grin.

Relief flooded the boy's expression at that contagious smile, though Ruby wasn't finished. "Jaune... I'm confused about l this..." The nervousness returned to him, though to his surprise Ruby still smiled with a slightly playful edge to her tone. "And don't like being confused... So...We might need to do this again... A lot. You know, for knowledge and stuff"

He chuckled like a madman, keeping a grip on her hands and he gave her what he thought was a playful wink. "Of course, I wouldn't want you feeling down"

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" She poked her head back up, her nose poking his own.

"It's only a kiss"


End file.
